Sandhi Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2021
-
Robert
Parker -
James
Suckling -
Wine &
Spirits -
Wine
Enthusiast
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills has a medium ruby color and pretty scents of cinnamon stick, aniseed, iron, underbrush and charcuterie with a core of red cherries and cranberries. Medium-bodied yet very concentrated, it has a powdery frame, sparks of refreshing acidity and a very long, graphite-driven finish. Precise and detailed, it deserves to spend another 2-3 years in bottle.
-
James Suckling
A bright and crunchy wine with sliced strawberries and orange peel. Medium to light body with light tannins and a crisp finish.
-
Wine & Spirits
Heady and musky, with a tea-like spice, this has an assertive whole cluster character and vibrant, Beaujolais-like, plum and dark cherry fruit. Lively and plump in a winning combination.
-
Wine Enthusiast
A lighter hue in the glass, this appellation cuvée hits the nose with raspberry, pomegranate, bay leaf and dried-marjoram aromas, with a hint of game lingering in the background. The gamy charcuterie flavors presents more prominently on the palate, where oregano and tart cherry add to the experience.
Other Vintages
2022-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine &
Spirits
-
Robert
Parker -
Wine
Enthusiast
-
Robert
Parker
-
Wine &
Spirits
-
Robert
Parker
Sandhi is a small production California winery focusing on select vineyards from the Sta. Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. Sandhi was founded in 2010 by Rajat Parr, the wine director for Michael Mina Restaurants, and winemaker, Sashi Moorman.
Sandhi represents a union essential to the production of wine: the collaboration between man, earth, and vine. The willing participation of all three elements is necessary to make great wine, and the winegrower must make this collaboration rich and nourishing for all involved. An understanding of these joint efforts informs Sandhi’s exploration of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vines throughout the Santa Barbara County terroir.
The individual vineyards from which these grapes originate–some legendary, some new–have been exhaustively vetted for character, personality, and balance. Employing the wisdom and talents of people who know the vineyards, Sandhi is dedicated to making wines of finesse, minerality, acidity, structure and balance. Wine achieves power and beauty through the seamless integration of these qualities, and this is the inspiration for Sandhi. Wines exhibiting extreme ripeness, alcohol, oak, and other discordant exaggerations cannot truly express a specific vineyards terroir.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A superior source of California Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Sta. Rita Hills is the coolest, westernmost sub-region of the larger Santa Ynez Valley appellation within Santa Barbara County. This relatively new AVA is unquestionably one to keep an eye on.
The climate of Sta. Rita Hills is a natural match for Chardonnay and Pinot noir, thanks to the crisp ocean breezes and well-drained, limestone-rich calcareous soil. Here, grapes ripen just enough, while retaining brisk acidity and harmonious balance.